<p>Nearly 7,000 men have played in the World Cup since it began in 1930. To capture some of their extraordinary stories, The Times' football reporter James Gheerbrant set out on a quest to track down 48 players from the 48 countries playing in this year's tournament. We hear the remarkable memories of 3 of them: One of the old surviving players, another who trained under the shadow of gunfire in Vietnam, and a final player whose team endured death threats.</p><br><p><strong>Guest: </strong>James Gheerbrant, football reporter, The Times.</p><p><strong>Host: </strong>Luke Jones.</p><p><strong>Producer: </strong>Dave Creasey.</p><p><strong>We want to hear from you - email:</strong> <a href="mailto:[email protected]" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[email protected]</a></p><br><p><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/world-cup/article/48-countries-48-players-world-cup-through-eyes-of-men-who-played-in-it-0ztv97bg0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">48 countries, 48 players: World Cup through eyes of men who played in it.</a></p><p><strong>Further listening: </strong><a href="https://pod.fo/e/43287f" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Who is the “king of soccer" Gianni Infantino?</a></p><p><strong>Clips:</strong> ITN, BBC, CNN.</p><p><strong>Photo:</strong> Getty Images.</p><p><em>This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism&nbsp;subscribe&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.thetimes.com/subscribe/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>here</em></a><em>.</em></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>